Saturday, January 8, 2011

52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy & History - Week #2: Winter

Week 2: Winter. What was winter like where and when you grew up? Describe not only the climate, but how the season influenced your activities, food choices, etc.

I grew up in Central Florida, so I'm used to fairly mild winters with temperatures typically in the 70's during the day. Since we don't have snow, we don't add any activities, but people do less of some things like boating and going to the beach. We have cold snaps from time to time where it dips below freezing. That's always a good excuse to put a pot of homemade chili on the stove!

I spent the end of my teenage years in Tallahassee at Florida State University. One night around 1:30am we were woken up by screams and laughter outside our dorm windows. It turned out to be a big snowball fight, so of course, we got dressed and went down to join in the fun. This was the first time I'd ever seen snow! The next day I saw people attempting to ice skate on the frozen fountains and there were little snowmen outside the dorms.

Snowman outside Cawthon dorm, FSU, Tallahassee, January 1977

One year, we were on Christmas vacation in South Florida and heard news reports of pipes bursting in Central Florida due to a freeze. We headed back home to find my parent's orange trees had iced over from the sprinklers!

My sister in my parent's backyard in Central Florida, ~1987

Me holding a frozen orange in my parent's backyard!

This is shaping up to be a colder than normal winter too, but right now, it's 67 degrees, so no snow or ice in sight!